With children's games glimpsed from above in an immense expanse of earth
and sky, Fragonard presents a vision of nature, imposing yet tamed by
civilization. These are not forests, but gardens resembling the magical
Villa d'Este, where Fragonard sketched in Italy. Light creates volume in
the towering clouds and breaks through in patches on the ground to
illuminate the small figures as if they were on a distant stage.

The Swing and
Blindman's Buff, designed together, trace
the progress of love. In one, a blindfolded young woman reaches out to tag
and identify another player in a game that since the Middle Ages had
symbolized the folly of love. In the 1700s this meaning was viewed with
indulgence: youths were meant to grasp at love. In the companion painting
another young woman sits on a swing pulled by a youth who is barely visible
in the shadows between the lion fountains. The swinging motion, which
brings her skirts and legs into view, suggested erotic abandon. The two are
lovers, who have "found" each other, as the players in Blindman's Buff
are attempting to do.